Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. The region consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements, and it was named for a tribe that settled the shores and islands of the Aegean Sea between 600 BC and 480 BC. The cities of Ionia were established by Greek colonists from the other side of the Aegean, and the colonists were led by the sons of Athens' last king, Codrus. The Ionian League existed from the 7th to the 6th centuries, and the Lydian king Croesus conquered Ionia between 560 and 545 BC. However, Ionia would be conquered by the Persian Empire in 547 BC, and Ionia's city-states would fall under Persian (and, later, Macedonian) rule.